![]() ![]() Potts, this is the one to nail down the breadth of her ability. If her career is best remembered for her bubbling, inviting roles as Auntie Mame and Mrs. Made frighteningly clear through Lansbury’s performance, there is always a reason to look behind your back. The film is of an ilk rarely seen today: the clear-eyed espionage drama as intimately tied to its current moment as it is to a nihilistic worldview dating back to the Greeks. Eleanor Iselin connects those Shakespearean greats to 20th-century American politics, coolly explaining to her son, “You are to shoot the presidential nominee through the head,” as she plots her senator husband’s ascent to power. Filmed with calculated, noirish despair, Lansbury’s Mrs. Watch Here The Manchurian Candidate (1962)Įver the Brit, Lansbury offers an Oscar-nominated performance in this paranoid political thriller that answers the question, “What if we mixed Lady Macbeth’s murderous horniness with Queen Gertrude’s motherly love?” The result, reader, is one of the most disturbing portrayals of ruthless ambition ever set to celluloid. Had it been nonstop conniving, the film would have hinged on one note - tough to sustain an audience - but her behavior adds to the madness: Between all the obvious scheming, it’s Nancy’s sardonic cracks that make us feel there is really no one to trust. ![]() The film is genuinely frightful, and Lansbury’s performance, which borders on comic relief, only adds to its terrifying disorientation. Though Lansbury maintains she was never set up to be a beautiful Hollywood starlet, it’s a delight seeing her pretty, innocent face snarling while delivering the quips that contribute to Bergman’s descent. The 19-year-old Lansbury nabbed a Best Supporting Actress nomination in her first screen outing for her role as the downright bitchy maid Nancy, who’s all too happy to flirt with Bergman’s man and give her some serious glares. Gaslight (1944)īefore the word lost all meaning, Gaslight meant one thing: an Ingrid Bergman psychological thriller in which her husband convinces her she’s going insane so he can steal her family’s fortune. These eight picks show how she honed all these gifts into a singular screen persona that, while ranging from the dastardly to the darling, encompass the beloved actress’s artistry. When you had that kind of talent, you knew just how much to offer, and when. Any interview or appearance she ever made highlighted what we came to love about her: She was charming and candid, as open as can be while still keeping her internal essence to herself. Her Mame curtain call is absolutely spectacular, a throwback to a time when standing ovations meant something the applause from (allegedly) the raucous first performance of “A Little Priest” on Sweeney Todd’s opening night is thunderous and existing footage from her Tony-winning turn in Gypsy is a masterclass in her genius blend of vaudeville-era showbiz and mid-century psychology.Īnd, of course, the dame had class. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) to grandmothers (and grandmothers at heart) through her 12-season run on Murder, She Wrote.īelow are eight standouts to celebrate the eight decades Angela Lansbury spent on our screens - but if you’re looking for even more from her, don’t forget a third of Lansbury’s genius was left on the stage, so do yourself a favor and fall into a YouTube spiral of the highest order. Over her very long career, she endeared herself to everyone from children (see: her comforting vocal performance as Mrs. Because the world is good sometimes, she was properly lauded during her life, gathering six Tony Awards, six Golden Globes, an Olivier, an Academy Honorary Award, and nominations for three Oscars, 18 Emmys, and a Grammy for her achievements. ![]() Angela Lansbury, iconic star of stage and screen, died on Tuesday at the age of 96. ![]()
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